| There are approximately 920 species of birds known to visit North America, and 302 of them are documented visitors to New England. All 302 are covered here, as well as 179 occasional species. This compact yet comprehensive book begins with 28 pages of introduction, including instructions on using the book, identifying birds and field technique. Profiles are one page per species, and the quantity and quality of the information on each page is spectacular. Each entry contains the family and species name; the length,wingspan and weight of a typical specimen; plumage, habitat and migration information; and descriptive paragraphs about the species' song, behavior, breeding, nesting, population and conservation as well as a distribution map (with migratory information); and pictorial depictions of the species' flight pattern and nest identification. Also included is a scaled silhouette and at least one color photograph. (More pictures are included if the male/female/adolescents/seasonal plumage differ in appearance.) There are blank spaces to note the date, time and location of a sighting. After these 302 entries, smaller entries describe each of 179 bird species that are considered vagrant or casual visitors to the region, and contain the name, a color picture, a distribution map and the average length of that specimen. Entries are organized taxonomically, beginning with birds that do NOT perch and sing, and continuing with those that DO. The book concludes with a glossary (though nowhere does it define 'altricial' -- meaning born helpless, a word used frequently in the entries), a good index, and acknowledgments, including picture credits. I'm an old reference librarian, and I have a shelf full of flawed naturalist guides, so I'm not easily impressed -- but this guide is spectacular. If you have any interest in the birds of New England, this should be the first guide you get. |
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